Waiting at the Milestone
by Magical Poof
Summary: Sasuke has been returned to Konoha. Is this a turn for the worst or the better? Each person has their own story to tell and each person will tell them. [Collection of oneshots relatively connected][Ino, Shika]
1. Ino: The Flowers

**Title:** Waiting at the Milestone  
**Rating:** G  
**Warnings: **None.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto. Nor do I own the song lyrics in italics, those belong to Liz Phair in the song "Red Light Fever".  
**Author Notes:** I actually really liked this one. I might make it an independent one too. Well, maybe not. But I really did like this. I've never been a big fan of Ino, but it's fun to write about her and stuff. This is my first try at her, though. Oh, and basically these are a bunch of one-shots all about different people and all set around the time Sakura and Naruto drag Sasuke back.

**Chapter: **Ino: The Flowers

_Too many people want too many things  
And you only want to forget_

Ino didn't know what to think when she saw Naruto and Sakura stumbling through the Konoha gates dragging Sasuke's bloodied form. Kakashi had already passed through; Ino had seen him on his way to the Hokage's office about thirty minutes earlier. She wondered where the other member of their temporary team had gone to. This "Sai" character that had been harassing Naruto, Shikamura, and Chouji when she'd arrived to see them for lunch with Asuma.

Ino wanted to rush up and check on "her poor Sasuke" like she had so many times before. She still wanted to act like he belonged to her, like Sakura was still beneath her, instead of on a whole other level above her. But, as Ino looked at their weary, exhausted tread, their solemn faces, she knew that this was not one of those times. She stood in at the window of her family's flower shop; unconsciously clutching the yellow hyacinth so tightly it might snap. Yellow hyacinth? How ironic. Had this been any other time she might have laughed.

Yellow hyacinths stood for jealousy.

And she was. Sakura had everything she'd always wanted when she was little. But Sakura was her best friend, she can't be mad at her, she can't be jealous of her. But Sakura is not her best friend anymore, she's not the little girl who used to cry because her forehead was too large, she's not the little girl who would shyly hide behind her and wait for Ino's approval or lead.

Ino dropped the mangled flower into the trash and picked up another. She rather angrily shoved it into the empty vase for the flower arrangement, scowling. Nothing seemed to want to work out for her. They say you're never any different to your friends, even when you get older. Somehow, Ino could never see Sakura destined for greatness, before. She couldn't see anything special in this trembling, crying little girl. Sometimes Ino wanted to tell her that she'd always play second fiddle her whole life. More often, Ino wanted to tell her that she had no right becoming a legend and leaving her behind.

She had no right to leave Ino behind like Ino left the weeds in the garden when she went to harvest fresh flowers every morning.

Ino would have taken Sakura with her. But then, Sakura was a small bud, just waiting to bloom. Ino had been the weed growing in the soil around her, her roots strangling her. Ino carefully tucked the Forget-Me-Nots in front of the yellow hyacinths.

Of course, the meaning for Forget-Me-Nots was obvious, probably even to Chouji.

Ino sighed. She really hated her team. They had none of the secrets that lurked among those of Team Seven. They did not flow together as if like a seamless cloth. Had any of her teammates left, she would probably not have gone after him with such fierce determination, ready to die. She didn't care about any of them enough.

Sure, she fought with them; she would take hits for them. She would make sure they were all okay… But would she spend years under the rigorous training of the Hokage? Ino had seen Sakura trudge by the shop after her lessons, beat and bruised, sometimes so exhausted she looked about to pass out right there. Was she ready to work so hard for people she didn't particularly like? Sure, they'd grown on her, they were her friends. But sometimes Ino felt like she wasn't a very good friend to begin with, so these new friends couldn't be much better. She arranged a couple stems of periwinkle between the Forget-Me-Nots and the yellow hyacinths.

Periwinkles meant friendship.

Ino hadn't seen Sakura much over the past few years. Their rivalry had been stupid, anyway, caused by Ino's desire to show Sakura that she was just as good. Even then, Ino wished she were still her best friend. Though Ino had many other friends, they weren't the same; they didn't share those childhood memories and bonds. They didn't know the secrets the shared in small, giggly whispers before anyone their age had learned to gossip.

Ino missed the days when she and Sakura could just sit in a field and talk. Now, Sakura always regards her warily, as if wondering when Ino will attack. Now Sakura doesn't share as many memories with Ino. Now they are in separate teams and lead very separate lives. She wishes now that she had not been so worked up over the stupid crush. She wishes they were not so different. She wishes things could be the same. Ino arranges a few pink larkspur into the arrangement.

Pink larkspur means fickleness.

Ino wishes she hadn't lied to Sakura. She wishes she hadn't tried to tell Sakura that no, she could not be better than her. She wishes she had not tried to make Sakura her shadow when she shone so brightly that it outshone Ino. Ino doesn't like looking at the past and seeing the good times, because they remind her how stupid she is. She doesn't want to keep pretending she hates Sakura. She doesn't want to say she's sorry either, because that's so much harder. Ino puts a couple stems of foxglove into the arrangement.

Foxgloves were for insincerity.

Soon Ino was just throwing in the flowers as they came to her. She didn't want to think about this sort of thing much long. So Sasuke was back, big deal? So Sakura wasn't her best friends anymore, she had new ones. So she wished a lot of things that would never come true, that was her own fault, wasn't it?

Geranium. Stupidity.

Broom. Humility.

Fir. Time.

Euphorbia. Persistence.

Buttercup. Childishness.

Astilbe. Still waiting.

Amaryllis. Pride.

Lotus blossom. Estranged love.

Burgundy rose. Beauty within.

Red Tulip. Fame.

Ino sighed and finally stepped back to look at what she'd created. The bouquet was horrendous. It was hideous, the colors clashing and the flowers ungraceful beside each other. Just like Ino. Maybe she would send it to Sakura while the girl would most probably be in the hospital, from chakra exhaustion. She smiled rather fondly, looking it over once more. It was almost perfect. But not quiet. Something was missing. Then she smiled and reached for one last flower to place dead in the center.

Zinna, for thoughts and memories of absent friends.


	2. Shikamaru: The Deer

**Title:** Waiting at the Milestone  
**Rating:** PG  
**Warnings: **None.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto. Nor do I own the song lyrics in italics, those belong to Liz Phair from the song "Lazy Dreamer".  
**Author Notes:** I don't ship ShikaIno, personally I'm a ShikaTema, myself, and maybe a little ShikaSaku, but there's no pairings in here, and I'm doing them by teams so… Yeah. Shikamaru's chapter sounded a lot better in my head… But then I kind of forgot some parts and now all I've got is this… I can't believe I used two Liz Phair songs in a row. Creepy.

**Chapter: **Shikamaru: The Deer

_Lazy dreamer  
You never want to rise_

Shikamaru had been sitting in the back of his home, out looking the forest and the pen where the deer were kept when Ino came rushing at him screeching that "Sasuke-kun" was back. He'd hardly moved except the slight shrug of his shoulders. Ino had glared at him, and then informed him that he was a lazy bum before sauntering off.

Shikamaru had hardly given her glance. However, after a brief double take he realized that Ino was carrying a hideous bouquet so unlike her usual ones, so imperfect and ugly that it was somehow beautiful. He then sighed and shook his head, deciding he was over thinking the whole thing and they were probably just for Sasuke anyway.

In all honesty, he did not want to see Sasuke. He didn't want to be reminded of his failure. He'd said before that he didn't particularly care for Sasuke and he didn't. He wasn't friends with him, he wasn't his teammate, in fact, he had hardly ever spoken with the closemouthed Uchiha. The Uchiha was considered a genius, but Shikamaru never put this title to the test against his own intelligence, it was too much trouble and he didn't particularly care if Sasuke stole the spotlight.

In all, he had no intention of going to visit the Uchiha in his prison cell or hospital bed. Shikamaru had no idea where the prodigy might end up. He knew they'd have a trial. After all, Sakura and Naruto had spent six months chasing their teammate through different countries. He deduced that it was hardly so he could be brought to justice with death. However, that seemed the most fitting. Uchiha survivor or not, Konoha wasn't going to welcome him back with a big hug. Although, Ino sure seemed like she was.

To the people who know you best, they say that you never seem to change. You just develop qualities they already saw in you. Well, Shikamaru was no close friend of Sasuke or Sakura or Naruto, but he couldn't see very many changes. Sakura had always been a bit headstrong, he knew, even if she was passive around Sasuke. Naruto hardly ever seemed to change and he was always grinning, grinning, grinning, that there was nothing to notice. He hadn't seen Sasuke, yet, but he would be the same, he knew. Cold, distant, and constantly disgruntled.

Shikamaru realized that he didn't see the changes because he didn't remember what they were like before.

Shikamaru knew that his team was not particularly _gifted_. Not like Team 7. Each had broken off to their own Sannin, each had their specialties and amazing abilties. It was like history was a never-ending circle of the greats. But that left him wondering, where did that leave him? Where did that leave him and Ino and Chouji? What were they in this great circle? Were they just among those who died with nothing to add to their names? No "Yellow Flash" no "White Fang" no "Sharingan Warrior." Their names would not be known through other countries, and probably not even through their own country. They'd be _expendable_.

It reminded him of the deer, which were nibbling the grass before him. They were penned by a wooden fence. Every once in a while one would escape. Sometimes he wondered if his father let one of them go. It was rather stupid, they'd been living in captivity, and they'd die out in the wild. Some of them were eaten right out of the pen, he knew.

Shikamaru didn't know why they even kept the deer. They didn't summon them, they didn't fight with them, they didn't have some affiliation with them like the Inuzuka clan or the Aburame clan. They just raised them and kept them penned up in the backyard. Just short of the forest and just short of the Nara home.

He could kill them all now. They were so trusting, they knew he came to feed and pet them sometimes. They knew he'd just sit there and watch them. He could let his shadow creep up and grab one. He could let it wrap around their tiny little necks and squeeze until there was a satisfying crack… But it was too much trouble and Shikamaru wasn't that kind of person. He was the kind to let nature run its course, even if it went too quickly for his liking.

He remembers a long time ago when he'd named them all. There was one that had been named Crooked because its leg was crooked. Of course, Shikamaru had not known at the time, but it had broken its leg and it had healed incorrectly, because of this it could not run or walk well. But when you're a child silly, nasty, mean things like that seem almost like second nature and forgivable. He'd named one Lopsided, because one of its ears couldn't stand up straight. He'd named another Doey, because she'd been the perfect gentle little doe, but one night she'd been dragged away by wolves, like a perfect damsel in distress. Though the stag of the small group was probably the oddest. Shikamaru hadn't bothered naming him because he was the only stag, aside from the fawns.

He didn't remember the others.

Every year Shikamaru watched as the stag lose his antlers and grows them back again. It seemed silly to him. Why would he lose them in the first place if they were just going to come back?

Now, ripened with age and experience, but not enough to be hardened by it, he knew they came back stronger each year. There were more tines on his antlers, they were stronger and stiffer until he grew old and they dwindled away. But by then another of the young fawns had grown strong and ruled the herd. Shikamaru realized that the title of Sannin was like those antlers, stronger each time as Tsunade was replaced with Sakura, Jiraiya was replaced with Naruto, and Orochimaru was replaced with Sasuke.

Shikamaru himself, of course, was one of those does among the herd, nothing interesting. Maybe, if he was lucky, he'd be one with a crooked leg or a floppy ear or maybe even a lazy eye. Just so he'd stand out a little.


End file.
